The Oldest Settlement in Europe

The oldest settlement in Europe, so far at least, may present more questions than answers.

A team led by Vasil Nikolov of Bulgaria’s National Institute of Archaeology discovered thick stone walls near the town of Provadia, Bulgaria and have estimated that they were built somewhere between 6300 to 6800 years ago. These walls are 10 feet (3 meters) high and more than 6 feet (2 meters) thick, with a diameter of about 328 feet (100 meters). They enclosed a settlement of two-story houses and obviously served as a fortification, much like the walls of later castles and walled towns.

The team also discovered parts of a gate and a series of pits apparently constructed for ritual use. The walls and other artifacts were dated by radiocarbon testing.

Nikolev believes the settlement housed about 350 people who produced salt by boiling brine from nearby salt springs which was used for trade. During the town’s lifetime, salt was a valuable commodity and anyone who could produce it in any quantity found a ready market for it. Copper needles and pottery found in graves at the site indicate that the people of the town were relatively wealthy, which supports Nikolev’s theory.

Bulgaria is an archaeological hotspot with many prehistoric settlement mounds in addition to the remains of Greek, Roman and Byzantine settlements.
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The Provadia site does present some interesting problems, however. The houses were two stories high. Were there earlier settlements built of one-story dwellings which may have predated the two-story houses of Provadia? It would be a little odd if two-story buildings, which are much more difficult to build, actually were constructed before single-story homes.

The second question revolves around the wall itself. Was this location so dangerous that the people who lived there felt the need to construct that protective wall?

Nikolev’s team has been working at the site since 2005. Perhaps, as they expand their excavations, some of these questions will be answered.

There is a detailed report here

The World’s Oldest Ivory Workshop

An international team of scientists working at a mammoth hunting site called Breitenbach near Zeitz in Saxony-Anhalt has discovered what they believe is an organized workshop that produced ivory objects around 35,000 years ago. The site is open and massive, estimated at anywhere from about 6,000 square meters to as much as 20,000 meters. It was undoubtedly occupied by modern humans during the Aurignacian period (40,000-34,000 years ago).

The site has evidence of distinct working areas. In one, for example, pieces of ivory were split. There is a second area where pieces had been carved and waste discarded. The team found ivory beads and unfinished rough-outs in the debris. Other objects, including a decorated rod and fragments of what may have been a three-dimensional sculpture were also discovered.

The ivory these early "factory" workers used may have been from the remains of mammoths which had been hunted nearby, or might have died naturally. Close to 3,000 finds have been made in 2012 alone, even though the first archaeological excavations at the massive site were carried out in the 1920s.

Scientists investigating the site, believed to be one of the largest of its time, are excited about the possibility of gaining insights into the culture and organization of the people who lived and worked there during the Upper Paleolithic, and hope to find other examples of art, personal adornment, and perhaps even music. Naturally, they hope to find burials, which often shed much light on the social life and culture of the people who lived there
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There is a great deal of work still to be done at Breitenbach, and with a little luck, perhaps the researchers there will be able to add precious details to what we know about the Aurignacian people and their lifestyles.
There’s more information on the Breitenbach site here

If you're interested, I posted about the world's oldest ivory sculpture here